Friday Night: Dress Up Your Plates

When my mother decided to have a nice family meal at home, she always thought it would be a good idea for the family to dress up for the occasion. And not even with formal wear–she just thought it would be refreshing to see my brothers wear something that weren’t inside-out R.E.M. t-shirts, or for me to change out of my ice-skating practice outfit for once.

And it was a good idea, which is not to say we ever did it. Getting kids to treat their home as anything but a place to mope around and be as sloppy as they want is no easy task. That’s why these plates from designer Marianne van Ooij are kind of genius. Not only are they unlike any other plate set I’ve seen to date, but they let you get that clean button-down shirt look at your dinner table with no fuss. And that zipper bowl! How awesome is that zipper bowl, despite it’s complete inability to serve soup? (Via Design Sponge)

Molly TolskyMolly Tolsky is the editor of Kveller.com. She holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. Her work has appeared in various literary magazines including Lumina, MAKE, and The Collagist, and her non-fiction has appeared in The Jewish Daily Forward. She isn't a parent, but a very proud aunt. Follow her @mollytolsky.